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Retirement and social security income

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johnsctt78

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hello everyone

im 80% rated with multible disabilities with one disability at 40%,I was working up to last year but because of my inabilty to get around no steps/stairs/ladders or standing for too long, I had to take what i could get with retirement before i was 62 because of my inability to work.I did turn 62  in april and im able to get social security,my conditions are lower back/both knees/ankle and servere arthritis in both knees and lower back.Ive tried looking for simple type work but with my knees and lower back i cant,would the little i get from retirement and social security count as income for UI? 

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TDIU is "not" needs based.  Its based on the criteria.  So your income, or lack therof, does not matter.  

What DOES matter is did a doctor state, "you are unable to maintain Substantial Gainful Employment due to Service connected conditions".  

If you have that, you should get tdiu (and, of course, you are not working).  

You could have 400,000 per year coming in from retirment or investments..it does not matter.  But you can not have substantial "work" income, that means generally you earn less from working than the poverty level. 

If you earn 4000 a year cutting your neighbors grass, and worked for a month painting a shed, that is not "substantial gainful income" as you earned less than 10,000 per year. 

    There is a difference in being able to paint your neighbors shed, and being able to work full time 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.  

     You may have to sit down in a chair while painting the shed.  Yea, you got the job done, but a real painter would have painted it in 2 days, and it took you a month, because you cant stand up for more than an hour a day, for example.   

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You MIGHT need an assessment from a Voc rehab specialist.  Example:  you have back pain and can not stand or walk more than 20 feet without rest.  

However, that does not necessarily preclude you from getting retrained in a job as a computer programmer (sedentary work), which does not require standing or walking much.  

A voc rehab assessment can determine if you can retrain as a computer programmer.  Maybe you cant.  Maybe you are computer illiterate and 60 years old.  

He would need to state its not feasable to retrain someone 60 years old to work in the computer field, as before you got educated and experience, you would be at retirement age, and you are not skilled as a student and are unlikely to be able to master computer programming at 60 years old.  

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No, your SS retirement is not considered income.  I collect TDIU, and SS disability.  If you can live on that great, if not, you need to see voc rehab as broncovet stated.

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